This evening in Trafalgar Square Nelson Mandela will once again not only
represent his country but also that great moral courage rightly applauded by the admiring
crowds in London and around the world.

I visited him recently in his home in Johannesburg. I had come to show
him a report that proves what Drop the Debt, the continuation of the hugely successful
Jubilee 2000 campaign, has been saying for a long time. The World Bank and the IMF can
afford to cancel 100 per cent of the debts owed by the poorest countries, just as the
Group of Seven (G7) richest nations already have done.

The sombre reality of a continent he has done so much to change and lead
by example preoccupied and troubled him. He talked of his profound sorrow at the Aids
pandemic gripping the continent and under which 20 per cent of the people of his own
country suffer. He spoke, without bitterness but with frustration, about the clear linkage
between Africa's debt problem and the continent's inability to deal effectively with the
massive destruction caused by this terrible disease.

He told me how Zambia loses two thirds of its trainee teachers to HIV
each year. How the result has brought to a shattering halt the tiny education system in
that country. How Zambia pays more in debt repayments to us than on its entire healthcare
budget. How ridiculous it is that Zambia, having entered the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC) initiative, which is supposed to end the debt crisis, will end up paying
more in debt than they did prior to entering the initiative, as a result of the complex,
arbitrary and ineffective series of financial hurdles the World Bank and IMF have imposed
on these countries.

And how on average there has been only a pathetic 27 per cent reduction
in the debt payments that are crushing and smothering those countries which have so far
qualified for debt relief.

His head turned down, and that familiar voice began to shake as he spoke
of the onerous debt burden breaking the backs of the increasingly tired and defeated
peoples of this beautiful, intoxicating continent.

This is a man whose imprisonment mirrored that of his country, whose
freedom was his country's freedom. Who was unbowed, unbroken and, in his most staggering
defeat of his tormentors, was not embittered. Now he sat silent, for a moment beyond words
at the monstrous enormity of what he had outlined in this tragic tour d'horizon .

The independent study I was showing Nelson Mandela, on the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund was by Chantrey Vellacot, a leading global accountancy
firm. I also told him that I had heard of a report circulating within the World Bank that
the HIPC initiative is severely flawed and not capable of delivering what it set out to do
- a lasting exit from the debt crisis for the poorest countries. After numerous rewrites
this report was finally made public last week, and it proves that far deeper debt
cancellation is required.

When I left Mandela he was armed with the findings of the independent
report and arguing that now, before infrastructure utterly collapses and instability sets
in, we must persuade and force the global institutions to relent and free the people of
Africa from their unjust and unjustifiable yoke.

Two days later, South African President Thabo Mbeki talked to me of the
upcoming conference on Aids in Africa. This was the time for increased pressure, he said,
echoing his predecessor. He showed me the Millennium Action Plan, drawn up by him and
other African leaders, which they would be discussing at the next Organisation for African
Unity meeting, and which they will be taking in its final form to the G7 summit in Genoa
in July. In broad, bold and blunt language, these leaders demand deeper debt cancellation.

These are not extremists. South Africa is a relatively rich country,
able to handle its own debt burden - at least prior to the Aids crisis. Mbeki and Mandela
are speaking for their continent and less fortunate neighbouring countries, which
desperately need more debt relief.

This whole debt crisis has become a sickening joke. Everyone - the
politicos, the bankers, the bureaucrats - know these people can never pay back this money.
Nor do we need their cash. That argument has been won already - else why the 100 per cent
relief from the G7? If the argument pertains to the richest nations, why not their agents,
the IMF and World Bank, which we own as taxpayers in the richest nations?

Urgent and decisive action is required now as the impact of Aids is
turning a desperate situation into an even more critical one. Gordon Brown says he is
alarmed about the ongoing debt crisis, and he is right to be. Especially in light of the
Aids crisis the debt initiative he has done so much to lead from inside the political
mainstream is faltering. Even by its own standards it is failing. By the standards set by
Drop the Debt, it is woefully inadequate.

Gordon Brown and the finance Ministers of other rich nations who
gathered this weekend in Washington must follow through on their own commitment. They must
direct the World Bank and the IMF to do as the richest nations have done and give 100 per
cent debt relief. One day this will happen. And when it does, the only pertinent question
will be, why not before? Did you really require those extra 5,000 people to die each day
in Africa of Aids before you see the logic that appears so obvious to everyone else? Was
it truly necessary to cripple the health, education and agricultural sectors, removing
hope for the weakest and the poorest? What new whip do you wish to have with which to beat
them?